A CHARITY has already raised £5,000 to send the ashes of a tragic schoolgirl back to her home country after her death at the age of 12.
Littleover Community School pupil Franchesca Pawson died unexpectedly last Monday.
Tests have suggested that she died from a rare infection.
Derby City Mission, of which Franchesca's family are members, has raised the money to send her ashes back to Ecuador, which she left to move to Derby in the summer of 2013.
Alasdair Kay, chief executive of the charity, said the funds had come in the form of donations.
He said: "We really appreciate the generosity people have shown us after coming forward wanting to help raise the money.
"The kindness humans have shown us is brilliant, and something we really value.
"As a city mission, we help a lot of people and work with people in the community, so when something like this happens it makes me feel very special that people want to help us," he said.
"It shows amazing kindness at what has been a very difficult time for her family.
"They need to return to Ecuador to be able to grieve with family and friends there."
Mr Kay added: "As a mission, we are deeply mindful of this important step to comfort them in their tragic loss.
"We can never replace Franchesca but we can show our love to them as a couple in this tangible way."
Franchesca had only been at the school since March.
Since then, the school said, she had made a great impression and mixed well with both staff and students.
She made a good impression on her peers and, after her death, the school lit a candle for her and left a picture so that students could spend some quiet time paying their respects to her.
The provisional cause of death was septic shock due to consolidation of the right lung.
The condition was common 100 years ago but it is now almost unheard of in the modern age of antibiotics.
A coroner's spokeswoman said further tests would need to be undertaken to determine the cause of death.
Her death is part of a double tragedy for the school after 17-year-old former pupil George Watson died on Tuesday.
A minute's silence was going to have been held at Derby football matches on Sunday for the pair but these were called off due to poor weather.
Littleover Dazzlers, for whom George used to play, was among those taking part.
The minute's silence will now be held this Sunday.
George, of Whitaker Road, Littleover, started with the club at under-11 level and played for three seasons.
